The present invention relates to an ink paper sheet cassette which houses a web-type medium such as an ink paper sheet (referred to as inked sheet, hereinunder) for use in thermal transfer-type recording apparatus such as a printer. The invention also is concerned with a thermal transfer-type recording apparatus (which may be referred to as printer, hereinunder) which is suitable for use in combination with such a cassette.
Various methods have been proposed for mounting an inked sheet on printers which perform printing of letters and images or picture patterns by means of such an inked sheet, and actually carried out in various types of printers and typewriters which make use of such an inked sheet. For instance, Japanese Patent Unexamined Publication No. 56-67278 discloses a system for mounting a wide inked sheet readily. This system includes a supply reel for supplying an inked sheet and a take-up reel for taking up the inked sheet, wherein both reels are accommodated in a single cassette. A pressing roller is provided for the purpose of superposing and pressing the inked sheet on a recording paper sheet at the time of printing. The supply reel and the take-up reel are drivingly connected to each other through a rotation transmitting means so that the inked sheet is fed in synchronization with the printing operation.
Nowadays, various types of printers are used to comply with various demands and a variety of types of recording mediums are used such as ordinary or plain paper sheets, transparent sheets for OHP (Over-Head Projector), tack-seal papers and so forth. There are also a lot of printing requirements or conditions such as high-speed printing, low-speed printing, color printing and monochromatic printing, and so forth. This has given rise to the demand for development of inked sheets having various characteristics suited to these printing requirements or conditions. Inked sheets of different sizes are also required to conform with the sizes of the recording paper sheets.
The known system mentioned above requires that the user mounts and demounts the ink cassette on and from a printer so as to make selective use of a plurality of ink cassettes which may be of different types. In addition, no means has been provided for enabling the user to know the state of use of the inked sheet, e.g., the amounts of the available inked sheet remaining in the cassettes.